


Pictures Came and Broke Your Heart

by benjaminrussell



Series: Shadow of the Templar Week 2017 [2]
Category: Shadow of the Templar - M. Chandler
Genre: Art Gallery AU, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-12
Updated: 2017-09-12
Packaged: 2018-12-27 03:57:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12073056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/benjaminrussell/pseuds/benjaminrussell
Summary: SotT Week Day 2: Alternate Career PathsThe Pilgrim Gallery has drawn a crowd for the opening night of a mixed multimedia exhibition by the upcoming artist, Stonewall, and the event is going smoothly until an unexpected guest is discovered.





	Pictures Came and Broke Your Heart

As always, the exhibition opening seemed to have been sprung upon them - one minute there was a week to go, and the next, the first guests were due to arrive in fifteen minutes. Johnny ran over his mental checklist yet again, but as with the last half a dozen times he'd done so, there was nothing left to prepare. Nate, his technician and partner, was in the back with Dave, the artist whose work they were exhibiting, doing a final check of the lighting and sound, and Johnny himself was walking around, making sure everything was still on track to be ready before the guests arrived. He checked in with the catering staff again, confirmed the security guards were happy with the procedures that had been set up for the night, and then went to see the gallery manager, Danielle, who was on welcome duty for the night for a status update, but unsurprisingly all was running smoothly.

"Where's Robin?" He asked Danielle, glancing over at the unmanned coat check desk. He could see that the tickets were all stacked neatly to one side, and that the rails were all set up, just visible around the curtain, but his third employee was nowhere to be seen.

"He's just gone to give Nate feedback on the sound," Danielle replied with a wry smile, knowing full well what their colleague was like. Despite being employed as a gallery attendant, Robin always ended up assisting Nate due to their shared love of technology in all its forms. As long as it didn’t impact on his actual job however, Johnny didn't mind. If his employees were happy, then he was happy, and learning from Nate made Robin much more enthusiastic about working at the Pilgrim Gallery. Johnny glanced at his watch before replying, "If he's not back in five minutes, go and get him will you?"

"Aye aye, sir," Danielle agreed, grinning as she knew he didn't like being called 'sir', much preferring 'Johnny' or even the very imaginative nickname they’d given him of ‘Texas'. Sure, it was his name on the front of the building, but he wanted his employees to feel like they were all valued parts of a team, and anyway, 'sir' just made him feel uncomfortable.

Twenty minutes later he was greeting Simon Drake, the journalist from the Arts section of the local paper, and his cameraman, Rich. It was the first time the paper had sent someone to an exhibition at his gallery, presumably drawn by the rather unusual fare that would be displayed tonight, and honestly, he was a little nervous about what the man’s reaction would be. A good review from a media outlet with such a large audience could mean a big increase in the amount of visitors to the gallery, which would benefit everyone involved, not least by helping Johnny keep the doors open.

“The showing of Stonewall’s work will start at 9pm, but in the meantime please help yourself to food and drink, and if you have any questions, any of the gallery staff would be happy to answer them,” Johnny informed Simon and Rich as out of the corner of his eye he spotted one of the gallery patrons arriving, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go and greet the other guests.” He shot the two of them a quick smile before working his way through the small crowd to where Sandra had just finished chatting to Danielle.

“Sandy,” He said warmly, “I’m glad you could make it.”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Sandra replied, reaching out to give him a quick hug before stepping back and glancing around as if looking for someone.

“I’m guessing Nate is busy working then?” She asked, turning back to Johnny.

“Yeah, he’s backstage on standby just in case,” He explained, reaching out to knock on the wooden desk to the side of them. It wasn’t that he was actually superstitious, but it was a habit ingrained in him from growing up with a mother who definitely was, and all the time he’d spent in the art department at college hadn’t helped.

“I notice you’re on your own too,” He added, phrasing it like a question as he was surprised that her partner wasn’t in evidence.

“Mike’s outside still,” Sandy replied, fond exasperation filling her voice, “He saw a fancy car and is now too busy chatting to the owner to join the party.”

“I’d say ‘the perils of dating a rally driver’ but I’m think actually that’s just how Mike is,” Johnny grinned.

“Oh, I’m sure of it,” Sandy agreed with a small laugh, “We were in the oriental supermarket for an hour the other day because he got into a debate about the best way of serving sushi. But anyway, I know you must be busy, so I’ll let you get on with your job and we can catch up later.” With that, she headed off into the crowd, leaving Johnny to greet the next arrivals.

A bit later in the evening, Johnny found Sandy and the reporter, Simon, discussing the role of the media in the art world, while Mike and Rich occasionally added in their two cents but seemed to be mainly gossiping about the other guests. As Johnny joined them, Mike broke off from what he’d been saying to cry, “Johnny, my man! The gallery looks great – it almost feels like we’re about to have a rave in here!” Johnny snorted and commented, “I’m sure Stonewall would take it as a compliment if you started dancing to his installation.” Before either of them could say anything else though, Johnny’s phone rang. He pulled it off his belt clip and glanced at the screen.

“It’s Nate, excuse me.” He took a couple of steps away and put the phone to his ear, answering, “Hey. What’s up?”

“I’m not sure exactly, but on the CCTV footage there’s a guy poking around, looking a bit too closely at the security features around the artwork,” Nate reported.

“Good spot,” Johnny said, looking around to see if he could the man Nate was talking about, “I’ll go and check it out. Where is he now?”

“Back right corner of the gallery. He’s slim, got dark hair, and is wearing a very expensive looking tailored suit,” Nate replied, sounding a bit worried. They both knew that that sort of behaviour could mean they had a potential thief in the building.

“Got it. Let me know if he goes anywhere.” Johnny hung up and returned his phone to its clip as he headed towards the back of the gallery, balling his fists loosely. He may not have gone through with his plan to join the Police Academy, but he still knew how to handle himself in a fight if necessary, and there was always a chance that this guy might get violent when confronted. Sure enough, away from the main area of the gallery, was a smartly dressed man looking too closely for comfort at the frame of one of the pieces hung on the wall.

“Excuse me,” Johnny said as he approached, “Can I help you?”

“Ah, good,” The man replied in a posh British accent, “I take it you’ve got someone monitoring the CCTV then, given how quickly you’ve come to see what I’m doing poking around?” His lips quirked up in a brief smile, before he put his hand out and introduced himself, “I’m Jeremy Archer. Nice to meet you, Mr Pilgrim.” For lack of anything better to do, and as it no longer seemed like this man was looking to steal something, Johnny shook his hand.

“Johnny, please,” He corrected.

“Johnny, then. I’m here on behalf of my employer to assess the suitability of your gallery for his support,” Jeremy explained, pulling out a business card from his inside jacket pocket and offering it to Johnny, “He’s rather interested in the recent works you’ve displayed, and especially in your willingness to try something different like tonight, but before he pledges his support, he wanted to be sure that your security was up to scratch.”

“What are your thoughts on that so far?” Johnny asked. A business card and a story didn’t mean that Jeremy definitely wasn’t a thief, but he didn’t see the harm in playing along, at least until he could verify the man’s identity, and if he was telling the truth, then it was definitely worth being polite.

“Well-” Jeremy started, before being cut off by a voice calling out, “Jeremy!” They both turned towards the source of the voice to see Simon coming their way, with Sandra, Mike, and Rich all in tow.

“What are you doing here?” Simon asked, clearly pleasantly surprised to see Jeremy. He also clearly knew the man, so Johnny guessed that that cleared up the question of whether Jeremy was telling the truth or not. Rich’s muttered, “Of course he’s fucking here,” that Johnny didn’t think anyone else heard, cinched the deal, so he unclipped his phone again and sent Nate a quick message to let him know the situation.

“Simon, so lovely to see you again,” Jeremy almost purred, gazing at the journalist with a charged look that spoke volumes, before clearing his throat and adding in his normal voice, “I’m here on business for Mr West. But where are my manners?” With that he turned his smile on the two people he hadn’t been introduced to.

“I’m Jeremy. Pleased to meet you both.”

“I’m Sandra, and this is my partner, Mike,” Sandy replied with a smile.

“Hey,” Mike grinned. Then the lights dipped once, signalling that the showing was about to start shortly, so Johnny put his professional face on and suggested, “We should return to the front of the gallery so y’all can have the best view of Stonewall’s work. It’s quite an experience.” As the group made their way back towards the rest of the guests, noticed that Simon and Jeremy had migrated towards each other and were talking in quiet undertones. They obviously had history, but it wasn’t any of his business so he said, “If either of you have any questions about anything, please find me afterwards and I’ll do my best to answer them. I’ll also hunt down Stonewall if you’d like to talk to him about his work.” Then he slipped away to stand at the side of the room where he’d be able to see both Dave’s work and people’s reactions, just in time for the lights to dim and the music to start.

_“Pictures came and broke your heart.”_

**Author's Note:**

> The lyrics at the end/in the title are from Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles.
> 
> It was fun coming up with jobs for each of them, so if you have any head canons or other ideas please feel free to drop me a message on [tumblr!](www.tumblr.com/benjaminrussell) Alternatively, just come and say hi. :)


End file.
